1. Cersei will rise to power
With Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Tywin (Charles Dance) out of the picture, Cersei (Lena Headey) doesn’t have much family left to compete with. Her one-woman campaign to take over Westeros has become a lot simpler, but to become the true queen she’d have to kill two of her own children. However, after seeing her sobbing over Joffrey’s lifeless body at the Purple Wedding it’s unlikely that she would stoop that low. She will have to settle for Regent for now.

2. Stannis and Jon being BFFs?
When Stannis (Stephen Dillane) took his army up to the Wall to help out Jon Snow (Kit Harington), he seemed to be a top lad. But it’s clear that he has an ulterior motive. Having his army up in the north gives him a new seat of power over the other armies. In theory, he could pretty much show up and declare himself in charge of Westeros with the backing of his minions. He could just be a stand-up guy, but it’s much more likely that he’s up to something shifty. Only time – and hopefully Season Five – will tell.

3. Arya the assassin
Season Four ended with Arya (Maisie Williams) leaving the Hound (Rory McCann) to die slowly and painfully on a hill in the middle of nowhere, begging for death. She travelled down to the harbour and hopped on a ship bound for Braavos in exchange for the coin given to her by Jaqen H’ghar (Tom Wlaschiha). Arya has been heading down a dark path for some time: she has killed without mercy and recites the names on her hit list in her sleep. Once in Braavos, it looks like she’s going to join the Faceless Men and train to become a bad-ass assassin – quite a turn-up for the young Stark girl.

4. Cornucopia of new characters
A new season brings new characters and plenty of them. Set to make their first appearances are Oberyn’s brother Doran Martell (Alexander Siddig); his son Trystane (Toby Sebastian); Dornish captain of the guards Areo Hotah (Deobia Oparei); wealthy ex-slave trader Yezzan (Enzo Cilenti); Oberyn’s bastard daughters Nymeria, Obara and Tyene Sand (Jessica Henwick, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Rosabell Laurenti Sellers) and priest the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce).

5. No Hodor or Bran
It was announced earlier this year that Isaac Hempstead-Wright and Kristian Nairn wouldn’t be returning for Season Five, which leaves us at a loose end as far as Bran Stark and his buddy Hodor are concerned. It will be a real loss, seeing as the last time we saw them Bran was told by an old man that while he will never be able to walk again, he will be able to fly. Thankfully, Hempstead-Wright and Nairn’s absence is more of a gap year than a departure, so we can expect to see them back road tripping around Westeros in the future.